Hospice Insights Podcast - AI in Action: Exploring How AI Is Helping Hospices Do Things in New Ways
Hospice Insights Podcast - Election Inspection: Be Proactive to Avoid Costly Election Statement Denials
Hospice Insights Podcast - Still Number One: Healthcare Fraud Remains Central in DOJ’s White Collar Enforcement Plan
Podcast - Innovations and Insights in the Palliative Care Space
Hospice Insights Podcast - Hospice Audit Updates: David Beats Goliath
Hospice Insights Podcast - But Wait: Things to Consider Before Adopting AI Tools In Your Hospice
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 10: Anti-Kickback Compliance for Hospice and Skilled Nursing Providers
Hospice Insights Podcast - One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Figuring Out What is Your Hospice+
Hospice Insights Podcast - Psychedelics and End of Life Care: Understanding the Legal Landscape
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 9: The Impact of AI and Prior Authorizations on Home Health and Hospice
Hospice Insights Podcast - Controlling the Narrative: A New Tactic for Auditors and ALJs
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 8: Hospice Special Focus Program: Pumping the Brakes
Hospice Insights Podcast - Upping the Ante: Will CMS’s Enhanced Oversight Efforts Cause Hospices to Fold?
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Year in Review: Reflections and Hopes for the Future
Hospice Insights Podcast - What a Difference No Deference Makes: Courts No Longer Bow to Administrative Agencies
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 7: OIG Report Reveals Gaps in Hospice PRF Compliance: What Providers Need to Know
Hospice Insights Podcast - Meet the New Laws, Same as the Old Laws: Overpayment Recoupment Update
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 6: Navigating the Audit Maze: Insights From Northeast Georgia Health System
Hospice Insights Podcast - What's Good and Bad in Hospice Right Now: A Conversation with Greg Grabowski, Partner at Hospice Advisors
Hospice Insights Podcast - What's the Latest on UPICs? Highlights From Recent Audit Activity, Part II
In an audit, election statement deficiencies can be costly. Auditors deny all claims covered by the problematic election statement, and those costs can multiply if more than one patient was affected. In this episode, Husch...more
News Briefs - Licensure Compact Aims to Allow PAs to Practice in Other States - By 2028, the nation as a whole will be short some 100,000 critical health care workers, according to a new report....more
Last week, CMS issued a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) for fiscal year (FY) 2025 aiming to update Medicare hospice payments and aggregate cap amount in accordance with existing statutory and regulatory requirements. The...more
AGG’s Home Health & Hospice team publishes a quarterly newsletter covering legal and regulatory topics specific to the home and community-based healthcare industry. The fields of end-of-life and home healthcare present...more
GAO issued a report on December 12, 2022, that identified gaps in the reporting requirements for hospice abuse and neglect allegations as compared with requirements for extended care provided in hospitals and nursing homes....more
The US Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report on December 12, 2022, recommending that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) expand hospice fraud and abuse reporting requirements to make them...more
COVID-19 remained a substantial obstacle to hospices’ efforts to comply with quality data reporting obligations in 2021. Those challenges resulted in a number of hospices receiving notices of a 2% Medicare payment reduction...more
Each July, the Medicare Administrative Contractors issue notices of a 2% Medicare payment reduction to those providers who did not meet quality data reporting requirements. Those notices have been sent. In this episode, Husch...more
In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske and Jacob Harris unpack what may be behind the Hospice Item Set (HIS) noncompliance letters that many hospices believe they have erroneously received. These letters indicate...more
On April 8, 2021, CMS issued proposed rules for the Fiscal Year (FY 2022) Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) and FY 2022 hospice payments. CMS estimates that the aggregate impact of the payment...more
The “rules of the road” for Provider Relief Funds continue to evolve. Recent actions by Congress and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provide further clarification in key areas that are helpful to hospices. In...more
September was another busy month as hospices and other providers try to keep pace with the government’s constantly evolving rules and standards around various COVID-19 federal relief programs. In this episode of Hospice...more
In response to the COVID-19 emergency, effective March 20, 2020 the New Jersey Department of Health and Department of Human Services are requiring post-acute facilities in the State to submit weekly data regarding their bed...more
In a final rule published in the Federal Register on August 6, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), implemented several important changes in the hospice payment framework and FY 2020 rates, as well as...more
In keeping with its recent recommendations to CMS, the Office of Inspector General for the US Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) is recommending increased oversight and compliance reporting requirements for...more
On July 9, 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two reports addressing hospice deficiencies and the risks, potential harm, and actual harm those deficiencies posed...more
CMS updated payment rates, implemented statutory changes, and continued to provide guidance on quality reporting measures and requirements in the FY 2019 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update Final Rule published on...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued notification letters to hospice providers that are not in compliance with the Hospice Quality Reporting Program requirements. According to CMS, all noncompliance...more
On April 27, 2017, CMS released a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would update the hospice wage index, payment rates and cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2018. It also provides an update with respect to quality...more
National research indicates that health care workers are at a substantially higher risk of workplace violence than the average worker in another industry. According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health...more
Under California Health & Safety Code (HSC) sections 1280.15(a) and (b), California licensed clinics, hospitals, home health agencies and hospices are required to prevent “unlawful or unauthorized access to, and use or...more
On August 29, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released the final version of the new Medicare cost report, Form CMS 1984-14, applicable to freestanding hospice providers. Freestanding hospice...more